Colorblind
by M. D. Jensen
Summary: After one of Mulder's epiphanies, he tries to discuss what he has learned with Scully... she's less than receptive. Vignatte, I think is the term for this.


Disclaimer: I don't own Mulder or Scully. This vignette, which I think is a proper use of the word, is based on a conversation that my now ex-boyfriend and I had. And yes, though this is the same guy from "You Must Be A Gemini", he's nicer now. We're cool. Yeah, you care a lot.

Anyway, summary: Mulder, as we know, jumps quickly into action, but also likes to stop and smell the flowers. After one of his brilliant observations, he tries to tell Scully what he realized… slightly fluffy vignette, probably about late 2nd, early3rd season. Before Scully falls ill, but far along enough that they talk like this. And, shock-shock, no angst here. Enjoy it, peeps, after this I'm to write some very sappy Doggett angst!

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Colorblind

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Miss. Miss. Three-pointer!!! Mulder kept mental track of how many of his paper balls made it into the trash can. One landed on Scully's notebook, and she glared up at him.

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Must be that time of the month, Mulder thought, smiling innocently before Scully surprised him by, not yelling, but picking up the wad of paper and tossing it back at him.

He grinned. Maybe she was in a better mood than he had thought. Time to play? He assumed an extremely puppy-like expression. "Hey, Scully," he said after a few seconds of thought, subject: conversation starters. "Did you ever think about color?"

But she wasn't in a good mood after all. "Color, Mulder?" She said skeptically.

He decided to press on anyway, just to push her buttons. She needed to lighten up. "Sure. Like, do we really see the same color?"

"Color is a matter of light wavelengths, Mulder. We all see the same ones, assuming we're not blind, that is." She said all this without changing tone or looking up.

"Yeah, but… well, we both agree that this mug is blue, right?"

She looked up briefly. "Yes."

"We both see blue, yes, but does 'blue' mean the same thing to both of us? I mean, we both know that it's blue, but how do I really know that what you mean by blue isn't what I see as pink?"

Scully sighed. "Because I doubt you'd have a pink mug, Mulder."

"See, you're not following me. I…"

"Not that this isn't fascinating, Mulder, but this report has to be on Skinner's desk by one and it's already noon. Please?"

Once again resembling a puppy, Mulder's face contorted to a pout. Then he recovered, and took to staring very intently at his partner's face. Aware of the attention, Scully looked up. "What?"

"You have beautiful eyes." Mulder said sincerely. "Like sky blue."

Scully smiled despite herself, straightening slightly with the flattery. "Thank you…uh, Mulder. I think."

"Yeah," Mulder said, leaning back and crumpling another sheet of paper. "I was just hoping that everyone saw them as clear blue as I do."

Scully sighed, her shoulders sagging. Time to lay down the law. "Mulder, everyone's eyes work the same way. We interrupt color the same way. Everyone sees my eyes as the same blue that you do." _And everyone sees_ you _as annoying_.

"With all due respect, Scully, that's not true and you know it. Not everyone's eyes work the same way. Take me, for example. I'm red/green colorblind. We both agree that the grass is green, but I probably don't see it with the same color you do."

"I know how colorblindness works."

"Yeah, but doesn't it interest you? I mean, I might not even have names for the colors that you see." Almost as though he'd talked himself into an epiphany, Mulder leaned back to contemplate his new thought.

Report forgotten, Scully watched him with fascination. "My God, you really do think about these things, don't you?"

He shrugged. He wasn't smiling anymore, but Scully knew he was in a good mood. He was just being thoughtful. Despite herself, she smiled.

"What, now you're _laughing_ at me?" he said playfully, sitting up.

"No, I was just thinking…"

"Finally!"

"You _are_ something, Mulder," Scully said softly. 

"I've been told."

"Feel better?" Scully asked, but they both knew it translated as 'Feel like shutting up now'? He didn't need to feel better. Mulder was never happier than when he was off on a personal mental tangent about something that everyone else took for granted as a law. But nonetheless, Mulder nodded, settling into his chair, folding his hands across his chest and staring at the ceiling. 

Scully smoothly returned to her report. A few minutes passed unremarkably, but of course, nothing was ever boring for long around Fox Mulder.

"Hey, Scully, did you ever wonder…"

Scully stood up abruptly. "I'm going across the street for a salad." She left unceremoniously. 

Mulder shrugged, and shot his paper ball. It hit the rim and bounced in. "SCORE!" he shouted, pumping his fist. 

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"SCORE!" Scully shook her head; even though the walls of the basement were soundproof, she could hear Mulder's victory shout halfway down the hall.

She rode the elevator up, her mind on fairly superficial things as she arrived on floor 'L' and walked out to front door in search of her lunch.

Two feet outside the door, however, she paused next to a patch of grass, suddenly thinking what it would look like if the grass were red. Or yellow. She tried not to think about the fact that Mulder thought she had beautiful eyes… his were quite nice, as well, sort of green with flecks of both blue and brown… _STOP IT DANA!_

Frustrated, she heard Mulder's words echo inside her head: _I might not even have names for the colors that you see. _Mulling over this for a second, her only reward was a vision of herself with magenta eyes, turquoise skin and hair that could only be described as the color of a really fake blonde's. She shook her head forcefully and suddenly the grass was green again. 

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I'm really letting him get to me, she thought, resolving that she'd only eat her salad if the tomatoes looked red to _her_.

So… didja like it? I can see Mulder thinking about this sort of thing… I know this is mostly the sort of stuff that I think about. Pathetic, right? Please review!


End file.
